V. I. Lenin

Fourth Anniversary OfBednota[1]

Written23 March, 1922First Published:BednotaNo. 1183, March 26, 1922; Published according to the manuscriptSource:Lenin’sCollected Works, 2nd English Edition, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1965,Volume 33, pages 249-250Translated:David Skvirsky and George HannaTranscription\HTML Markup:David Walters&R. CymbalaCopyleft:V. I. Lenin Internet Archive
      (www.marx.org) 2002. Permission is granted to copy and/or
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	Documentation License

My congratulations to the Editorial Board ofBednotaon
      the occasion of the fourth anniversary of their newspaper.

For four years the paper has worked honourably and successfully
      to serve the interests of the working peasantry. The war that
      was forced upon the people by the capitalists and landowners
      ruined Russia to such an extent that our working peasantry still
      remain poor. The working people of Russia have still a lot of
      real hard work to do to over-come the starvation and poverty,
      the want and ruin that prevail as a consequence of the war.

But the peasants and workers of Russia will get down to this
      hard work and finish it, come what may. In this effort the
      workers and peasants will be inspired by the knowledge that they
      will be working for their own benefit, to improve their own
      conditions of life, and not for the enrichment of landowners and
      capitalists.

Soviet power has given us the alliance of workers and
      peasants. Therein lies its strength. Therein lies the guar-antee
      of our successes and of our ultimate victory.

This alliance gave us victory over Kolchak and Denikin, who,
      with the aid of foreign troops sent here by the capitalists, had
      tried to restore the rule of the landowners in Russia.

Now the foreign capitalists are compelled to conclude trade
      agreements with Soviet Russia, These agreements will help us to
      get the agricultural implements, machines and other goods that
      we need for the restoration of our ruined peasant farms.

We are now experiencing a most difficult spring follow-lug a
      year of famine. But we shall not be downhearted.
 Great as the hardships of the workers and peasants may be, we have now won the right and the opportunity to work for our own benefit and not for the benefit of the landowners. And we shall restore and improve our ruined economy.

March 23, 1922

[1]Lenin wrote this greeting at the request of Bednota's editor
      V. A. Karpinsky.

Lenin took a keen interest in the work of this newspaper and
      required Karpinsky to send him regular reports on the number of
      letters received by the newspaper from peasants and Red Army
      men, on the general mood expressed in those letters and the main
      questions raised in them.

Bednota,whose publication was started in Moscow on
      March 27, 1918, was a newspaper for peasants. On February 1,
      1931 it was merged with the newspaperSotsialisticheskoyc
      Zenzledeliye.